The Squid And The Whale features one of the more unlikable
movie characters that I’ve ever watched.
Jeff Daniels plays Bernard Berkman, a struggling writer whose marriage
to Joan (Laura Linney) is crumbling.
Bernard is hyper-critical of just about anything and anyone, a trait
that seems to have rubbed off on his older son Walt (Jesse Eisenberg). A lot of Bernard, in fact, has rubbed off on
Walt, who parrots his father’s views on many issues, including why Bernard’s
marriage is failing. Joan is an uptight
mother who has some affairs in her past, and the cracks in the marriage have
left scars on Walt and younger brother Frank.
I thought the film did an excellent job portraying a family in shambles from the very start. The film opens with the four main characters playing doubles tennis, and some of the signature behaviors begin to appear. Bernard swears every time he misses, which begins to rub off on Frank. The match culminates with Bernard hitting Joan with a volley and then doing damage control. Walt emulates his father and appears to be a maddening mini-Bernard, lobbing meaningless criticism and demeaning others. Frank doesn't seem to feel love from any direction, so he begins experimenting with alcohol on his own (startling because he's eight or nine).
Daniels as Bernard is a towering figure in the film, and I think his character, although unlikable, is a fascinating watch. The same goes for the entire cast, and I definitely recommend The Squid And The Whale.
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